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Home » Chess News » Events » 53rd Reggio Emilia 2010-11 » Short defeats Morozevich from lost position to lead on 2/2

Nigel Short moved into the lead alone on 2/2 after winning a second game in a row, this time against Alexander Morozevich who managed to make it out of snow and ice-bound Russia in time for the game. Morozevich got much the better of it as black when he played the French. He had a decisive advantage on move 28 but just couldn't put Short away. After 33...Nxd3 Short accurately saw his way through the complications to a win. Short has made the most of his luck and the two games with the white pieces at the start of the tournament. For Morozevich we will have to wait and see if he can recover some of his best form. All this traveling can't have done him much good, but there were also question marks about what standard of play he would manage after such a long break.

(28. Qc7)

28... Bxf3+?

(28... d4 {wins} 29. Qc8+ (29. Qc7 Qg6 30. Nf2 Bxf3+ 31. gxf3 Qg2 32. Qc8+ Rf8 33. Qg4 Qxh2) 29... Kh7 30. Re8 Re5+)

29. gxf3 d4?! 30. Re8+

(30. Qc8+)

30... Kh7 31. Qc8 Nf4+ 32. Kf1 Qb5 33. Nf2 Nxd3?

This seems to be the losing move. 33... Ra2 is about equal.

34. Rh8+ Kg6 35. Qe6+ Kh5 36. Rb8 Qe5 37. Rxe5 Ra1+ 38. Re1

(38. Ke2)

38... Rxe1+ 39. Qxe1 Nxe1 40. Kxe1 Rxf3 41. Rd8 Re3+ 42. Kf1 Rc3???

Black is losing but this is pretty ridiculous.

43. bxc3 dxc3 44. Nd3 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk's 10.f3 seems to be new, but led straight to a drawish position which was agreed on move 13.

10... Nxg3 11. hxg3 Bxg3 12. Ng2 Qg5 13. Rf2 1/2-1/2

Vugar Gashimov and Sergei Movsesian drew a pretty colourless Sicilian Taimanov in just 19 moves.

David Navara put a slow positional squeeze on Fabiano Caruana. Maybe 37...a4 is an error that denies the later possibility of b4 for black but white can wait a long time in this position before taking action. Just after the first time control Navara had a decisive advantage.

38. Ng2 Bc7 39. f4 Rc4 40. Nh4 Kh7 41. fxe5 dxe5 42. Rd7 Qe8 43. Qg6+ Kg8 44. R1d3 Rc6 45. Rxf7 Qxf7 46. Qxf7+ Kxf7 47. Rd7+ Kf6 48. Ng6 Bd6 49. Kg4 Rb6 50. Nh8 Be7 51. Rd3 Bc5 52. Rf3+ Ke7 53. Rf7+ Ke8 54. Rxg7 Be3 55. Rg8+ Ke7 56. Ng6+ Kf6 57. Rf8+ Kg7 58. Rf3 Bc1 59. Rf2 Rd6 60. Rc2 Rd1 61. Nxe5 Re1 62. Nc6 Rxe4+ 63. Kf3 Re1 64. Nd4 e5 65. Nxb5 e4+ 66. Kg4 e3 67. c4 Bd2 68. c5 Rd1 69. Nd4 Ba5 70. Nf5+ 1-0

The game Michele Gondena against Alexander Onischuk was a fairly dull Sicilian. Onischuk seemed to turn down a draw by repetition on move 37 which only landed him in an awkward knight and pawn ending which he eventually held.

53rd Masters Reggio Emilia (ITA), 28 xii 2010 - 6 i 2011															cat. XVIII (2695)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	2680	*	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	1	2
2.	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	2698	.	*	.	½	.	.	.	.	1	.	1½	2849
3.	Navara, David	g	CZE	2708	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	1
4.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2764	.	½	.	*	.	.	.	½	.	.	1	2703
5.	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	2721	.	.	.	.	*	½	½	.	.	.	1	2708
6.	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	2683	.	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	½	.	1	2635
7.	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	2733	0	.	.	.	½	.	*	.	.	.	½	2507
8.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2709	.	.	0	½	.	.	.	*	.	.	½	2543
9.	Godena, Michele	g	ITA	2549	.	0	.	.	.	½	.	.	*	.	½	2497
10.	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2700	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	0

Round 2 (December 29, 2010)
Short, Nigel D	- Morozevich, Alexander	1-0	44	C11	French Defence
Navara, David	- Caruana, Fabiano	1-0	70	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Vallejo Pons, Francisco	½-½	13	D12	Slav Defence
Gashimov, Vugar	- Movsesian, Sergei	½-½	19	B48	Sicilian Paulsen
Godena, Michele	- Onischuk, Alexander	½-½	64	C45	Scotch Game

View the games on this Page

Download the PGN from this page

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